I thought my heart was going to burst . I was about to cry buckets again.

Oh man I love how this anime makes me feel. Indeed I feel both Mutta and HIbito loved Sharon like a Mom . She has really taught and inspired them a lot . It is going to be difficult to see her regress .It is affecting me deeply becuase I can see my own mother in Sharon . I also watch her regress and her piano playing was affected. So this episode is really close to my heart and quiet painful to watch.

but I was really cracking up when Hibito came back to Japan with all those rabbit hats , I really want to make them and the NASA/JAXA jumper .

And yes the anime is getting closer to the manga but not quiet , ANN listed upto episode 77 so far which is during the Fall season , I do want to see this animated to the end of the story .

Anyone know when this is going to end? the Anime is dangerously close to the Manga right now. I think its only 14 chapters behind now..

Not really, the other day in Kinokuniya bookstore I saw the volume 21 of the manga on the shelf and this part of the series in the manga is only on volume 13.
I don't know when the anime will end but I hope they get as close to the manga as possible. I love it so much I don't want it to end for another year at least!

I'd have been a lot happier myself if that episode had ended a couple minutes sooner. Does anyone happen to know if The Adventures of Mr. Hibbit is going to be a regular feature? I'm inclined to skip this for a while if it is.

It just went thru quickly on the completion of the 18 month training. I like how it showed how time moved, by showing all those the pictures on Mutta's desk,
It was quiet funny when Hibito came back to Houston becuase he felt more at home.

And that picture was cute. How can you even make that face...lol.......well..... I kinda made that face when I was in front of Konishi san at the autograph session becuase he agreed to sign for the standby who did not make the cut off. I was in the front of that line crying and thanking the manager...hu hu hu

Anyway ....I feel the Adventures of Mr Hibbit are just shorts and its mainly for the younger kids who watches this show with their parents.I dont think its wise to make a full length episode of that to replace the main story ..Remember in the first season or 2 we have the JAXA corner.

PRAVN...You are worrying too much .Actually, the main target audience of this anime in Japan is the family.

Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide

The story in the manga continues beyond Mutta being just the backup .I too feel they could have ended it there and then do the rest in OVA

I thought having "The Adventures of Mr. Hibbit" after the credits was fun. But golly, sure can tell it wasn't made in America, and the cultural differences, and how those are shaped by different national histories, was sooo apparent.

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Making the Buddy character a gorilla...an offensive choice if it were made by Americans. And it did make me uncomfortable.

Hey I actually loved seeing the Hibbit thing if only to understand why Hibito was mortified when he went back to Japan and being forced to wear the bunny ears at the airport NOW it makes sense. I wasn't entirely sure why they did that.. now I have a visual..

finally had the chance to catch up.
Finale of the season with Sharon's illness and all......and then the fun of flying with T-38.....
love the new OP and ED.

splashing at Deneil was just great.
but this anime, actually skipping some time is probably the first one i noticed. i mean, this anime has been faithfully slow in pace....but i guess it's a long training.